Steve Bruce: I deserve Martin O’Neill’s credit

STEVE BRUCE believes he should be getting the credit heaped on Martin O’Neill for saving Sunderland’s season.

Steve Bruce believes he should be getting the praise heaped on Martin O'Neill []

O’Neill has led Sunderland from the bottom three to within striking distance of matching their highest-ever Premier League finish in a whirlwind four-month reign since replacing Bruce before Christmas.

But Bruce believes billionaire owner Ellis Short got rid of him too soon after backing him with major funds for significant surgery to the squad last summer.

He says O’Neill is now reaping the rewards of his hard work as Sunderland close in on a seventh-place finish.

Bruce, 50, said: “I completely rebuilt our side with the money we received from Liverpool for Jordan Henderson.

“Martin O’Neill is currently getting the pats on the back for what he has achieved. He’s a good manager and has undoubtedly motivated the players. But what’s now being seen is the players I brought in bedding down and proving how good they are. James McClean and Stephane Sessegnon are the headline stealers, but we signed them, of course.

I completely rebuilt our side with the money we received from Liverpool for Jordan Henderson

Steve Bruce

“I’m genuinely pleased for Sunderland and for Martin, yet we were only 11 games into a new season when I left. I wasn’t given much time, was I?”

Bruce insists he was driven out by hatred from Wearside fans for his Geordie roots and added: “We had a slow start, but we weren’t in serious trouble. We weren’t staring at relegation.

“What I needed was time for new players to bed in, to get used to new surroundings and new tactics. I wasn’t given that which disappoints me.

“The owner saw the hatred that was directed towards me from the terraces and thought I’d never recover from it.

“Even if I had won the next six games, some people would never have forgiven me for being a Geordie.”